Janet Heimlich is an award-winning journalist, the author of Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment, and the founder of the Child-Friendly Faith Project. With the release of Breaking Their Will, Janet became the first researcher to define religious child maltreatment and provide valuable information about its risk factors. Formerly a freelance reporter for National Public Radio, Janet won nine journalism awards. She has written nonfiction articles for such publications as Texas Monthly, the Austin American-Statesman, and the Texas Observer. Janet graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in communications and a minor in English. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her teenage daughter.

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

—Kahlil Gibran

This is what it means to be subjected to the force of faith unleashed by a clergy predator. It is not only physically, psychologically, and emotionally devastating, but it is also spiritually annihilating. It is soul-murder.

—Christa Brown

[W]e must acknowledge that our religious communities have not fully upheld their
obligations to protect our children from violence. Through omission, denial and silence,
we have at times tolerated, perpetuated and ignored the reality of violence against
children in homes, families, institutions and communities, and not actively confronted
the suffering that this violence causes. Even as we have not fully lived up to our
responsibilities in this regard, we believe that religious communities must be part
of the solution to eradicating violence against children, and we commit ourselves
to take leadership in our religious communities and the broader society.

I never doubted that my parents loved me. I accepted that the time they had for me was extremely limited. Even now, looking back on their dedication to the Church, I have no doubt that its teachings played an enormous role in their putting their [religious] responsibilities before their family at all times. In many ways, they sacrificed family for what the Church considered to be for the "greater good."

—Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of David Miscavige, leader of the Church of Scientology

Child abuse and neglect is still child abuse and neglect regardless of whether it's performed in a place of worship or condoned by religious leaders. Our laws should not restrict protections to certain children just because they happen to be raised by extremely devout adults. The health, safety, and lives of those children are just as important as the health, safety, and lives of all other children.